Keep Dancing on Death's Door
by The Wandering Muse
Summary: "Dying is not romantic, and death is not a game which will soon be over… Death is not anything… death is not… It's the absence of presence, nothing more… the endless time of never coming back… a gap you can't see, and when the wind blows through it, it makes no sound…" Tom Stoppard OR: Elijah discovers Katerina has not only escaped death once but twice so far. PART OF SWEET CRUELTY


**A/N: This is one-shot challenge response to FFN Writers Unite FB group. Word prompt: death**

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From the stretch of the empty parking lot, where asphalt meets concrete, a man dressed in neatly-pressed business suit stands beside the dimly lit lamp post. He counts the seconds on his gold pocket watch and then shuts the metallic cover with a click. It has been seven hours, forty-five minutes, and twenty-two seconds since his arrival into town. He hasn't forgotten her alluring scent since she was first introduced to them. He listens to the humans bustling in and out of Mystic Falls Memorial Hospital, carrying the wounded and sick through the wide open doors. Her scent is the strongest in there; it overpowers his senses and throws him into a disconnected loop of disarray.

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" _Will you play a game with me?"_

" _I will."_

 _Her thick curls bounced wildly as she ran past him through the long, narrow maze of walkways. He followed behind in a more sedate manner. Her head turned around as she teased with a wide grin. "You have to catch me."_

 _Her airy, lilting tone sent a tiny flutter through his chest, causing his still heart to jolt. If only his dead heart could beat once more. He let her win, preferring to listen to her joyful laugh as they frolicked around the garden._

" _You are meant to catch me," she said with a mischievous glint in her eyes._

 _His lips crooked a smile and his head tilted slightly to her response. "If I catch you, the game would be over."_

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 _"Where is she!?"_

 _"She's gone."_

 _He saw the remnants of the noose strung up from the barn ceiling and the pit of his stomach coiled tightly in white hot fear. What has she done? He barely heard himself speak. "You gave her your blood. Why?"_

 _"I'm... I'm sorry, my lord. I- I wasn't thinking... Katerina... She tried to kill herself."_

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He supposed she had gotten her wish after all. She had wanted him to chase her and had added an extra incentive by taking the moonstone with her. Her little trick had Niklaus tearing every inch of the property in fury until the structure had fallen into a crumbling mess. Niklaus had wanted to rip the useless unbeating organs from both the lovesick fool and the naive servant girl. He had intervened at the very last minute and proposed they find the doppelganger in exchange for their freedom.

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Decades and decades came and flew past him like a silent breeze. He had held his breath and stilled his entire being every time one of Niklaus's messengers had shown up, with trembling limbs and disappointing news. There was no new information on the devious little minx, Katerina. She had vanished from the face of the earth. Hearts were clawed out; limbs and heads were detached with vicious brutality - those savage methods depended exclusively on his brother's mood. He had exhaled a silent relief each time the servants returned empty-handed.

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A tiny part within him had always hoped she would not be found, but Niklaus was getting desperate. He bled through resources at his disposal. He even threatened witches to deliver results with the threat of using their little ones for sport hanging over their heads. Even with his efforts, he had failed to prevent the meaningless deaths. Niklaus had roared at him, jabbing his stained finger into his pristine white shirt, smearing it with the innocent blood. "This is all your fault, brother!"

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 _A century later, a foot post arrived to the study room where Elijah was currently resting, staring unseeingly at the neat inked documents._

" _My lord…"_

 _Elijah motioned the young messenger; who appeared to be no more than twenty years of age, over and into the room. The boy darted inside and dropped a rolled up document held together by a simple, elegant black ribbon on to the desk and stepped back, his scrawny arms clasped behind his back._

" _What is this?"_

" _A report of the doppelganger sighting, my lord."_

 _Hasty hands unrolled the parchment, its ribbon fluttering to the desk. Eyes unbridled with uncontained concern and anxiousness seeped out as they dart to and fro, scanning its contents rapidly. There had been a cleansing organized by a dedicated group of individuals who have managed to round up twenty-six vampires and trap them in an abandoned church in a town named Mystic Falls. The building was later set on fire. The humans' methods in trapping the vampires were unclear as mentioned in the letter, however, her name was mentioned as one of the unfortunate souls who had succumbed to the fire._

 _His lovely Katerina was gone forever, swept away into the void. He reread the report again and again until a tiny voice piped up, interrupting his reverie._

" _Do I get my reward?"_

 _He had forgotten about the boy completely. He tossed a small pouch filled with gold coins and the boy lit up a bright smile and scampered out._

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He had mourned her death for two and a half centuries. He and Klaus had parted ways after that, Klaus to Europe and him to America alone. He had traveled to Virginia and posed as a common arbiter searching for work. The humans put him to work and then lined his pockets with coins that he had no need for. Through observation alone, Elijah learned Sheriff William Forbes loved to frequent the dress shop where Honoria Fell worked. She was often seen in close quarters with the Sheriff, fooling around whenever her husband was busy. Mayor Lockwood was constantly bragging about his only son who had participated in the Civil War. Sometimes the two girls with braided hair would run around him in circles and giggle at him before running away. He soon learned their names to be Samantha Gilbert and Marianna Lockwood. He noted Samantha had a mind of her own while Marianna was shy and obedient. He had never met Jonathan Gilbert in person, but he had heard of Reverend Thomas Fell mentioning Gilbert's name a couple of times and at times, they referred Gilbert as a mad scientist always tinkering and muttering away.

There was a fifth founding family and Elijah later learned through hushed whispers that the Salvatore family was viewed as a tragic affair. The matriarch passed away due to consumption, leaving two young boys in her wake. During the round-up, both sons were shot in their attempt to free a deadly prisoner so captivating yet deadly. The patriarch was killed a night later in his own property yet there was no break-in and nothing from the property was stolen. Elijah took note but said nothing of his suspicions.

He visited her grave site during his spare time and laid a bouquet of fresh flowers at the fallen church ruins.

" _You should have caught me."_

He felt as though she was standing beside him, whispering sweet nothings into his ear. There was no one there. His mind was playing tricks on him.

"I'm sorry."

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" _So tell me, what gives you the courage to call me?"_

" _We found the Petrova doppelganger in a quaint little town called Mystic Falls…"_

It had been exactly two centuries since Elijah had last heard from the town. Was it a mere coincidence or was it perhaps fate that a new doppelganger had been borne into the very same town that had destroyed his once cherished Katerina?

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Elijah slips inside the doppelganger's room and settles into the nearest plastic chair without so much as a squeak. Another blonde woman lay on another cot besides the girl. Her back facing the door, she was curled on her side as she snores quietly. He observes the sleeping doppelganger hooked up to the various machines surrounding the headboard of the cot. A quiet, strangled cry escapes her pale lips, causing Elijah to lean forward in his seat. The doppelganger cries out again, this time murmuring for Katherine.

His fingers unconsciously extend to brush a couple of stray hazelnut strands from her temple. Clearing his mind, he focuses his concentration toward hers. There was that familiar but uncomfortable jolt as his consciousness felt it had been squeezed into a tiny cylindrical tube and then rudely shoved out. He frowned at the doppelganger. That was odd. The sensation felt as if there was something blocking him from entering the girl's mind. Was she protected by magic?

Sounds of movement approaching the room catches his attention and so he exits the floor silently. He pauses midway down the stairwell and sniffs cautiously. It smelled sickening sweet of pure innocence and naivety that has the darkest side of him running the tip of his tongue over his dry lips. The aroma of fresh blood wafts under the door and hits his senses, sending him to take quick long strides to the source. Elijah steps into the almost darkened room but not before spotting a blurry figure speeding down the empty hallway and down another stairwell.

It couldn't be her. She had died in the fire. He had mourned for her. How was it possible that she was alive after all these centuries?

"What game are you playing, my dear Katerina?"

He follows her until she is halfway across the dimly lit parking lot, fresh blood staining her sultry lips and crimson liquid trickling down the side of her throat. He watches as Katerina surreptitiously yanks a man in his mid-forties out of his vehicle and tears into his exposed esophagus without preamble. He is there by her side and his fingers grip her chin, yanking her face upwards and forcing her pearly sharp fangs to disengage from the human's jugular. Her darkened irises glare at him for interrupting her meal simultaneously snarling with uncontrolled anger.

"Enough. Leave him," Elijah commands.

She doesn't recognize him; her eyes are too wide and unfocused. He cannot bear catching her now, not when she isn't in the right frame of mind. Her bloodlust has taken over. It wouldn't be a fair game.

Not wanting Katerina to run from him any longer, Elijah compels her to forget this moment. He stands perfectly still as he scrutinizes her beautiful, crimson irises recede until a pair of hazel, saucer wide eyes stare right through him. She straightens up from her crouched stance, confused and wary at the same time as she scans her surroundings. Her hands pat the white bloodstained coat and then her expression switches to one of panic.

"Elena!" She swears loudly and promptly blurs back into the hospital.

He blinks in surprise, not anticipating her reaction. It would seem that both the doppelgangers are aware of each other existence. Was Katerina here to protect her doppelganger or did she have another agenda?

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He was the last, remaining legitimate Mikaelson standing; whoever stands in Klaus's way either gets killed or struck off. Finn was daggered many centuries ago for assisting their father in his contemptuous attempts to rid the earth of their bastard brother with the white oak stake. Kol was daggered for disobedience, and Rebekah daggered for resistance. Katerina may have acquired a special talent for escaping death not once, but twice. However she was no match for Klaus's endless resources at his disposal.

Should he discover that the existence of the new doppelganger and later learn Elijah had once again betrayed him, he would level the town to the ground after killing the young Elena Gilbert to complete the ritual. He would be daggered, tossed into a coffin, and thrown into the sea whereas Katerina would undoubtedly be tortured and later staked. He couldn't let any of those events happen, not on his watch.

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" _True love is not real unless it is returned. Do you agree?"_

 _He stares at her forlornly and recites the empty words he'd long rehearsed alone at night._

" _I do not believe in love, Katerina."_

 _She shakes her head in disbelief._

" _That is too sad for me to accept, my lord. Life would be too cruel. If we ceased to believe in love, why would we want to live?"_

 **Fin.**


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